Latest revision as of 10:40, 25 April 2011

In 2008-2009, the Idaho Commission for Libraries piloted Every Child Ready to Read Family Workshops, a six week program that involves young children and their parents in learning about the six early literacy skills that help prepare children to be successful in school.

We did not have great luck with the ECRTR scripts provided through ALSC because most small, rural libraries in Idaho couldn’t get enough families with children of different ages to attend those specific workshops. They also wanted to attend something with their children so we contracted with Saroj Ghoting to create specialized scripts for this program. Once a week, for six weeks, parents and their children attend an Every Child Ready to Read Workshop. One of the six early literacy skills is highlighted each week and parents have a chance to practice the skill with their child during the 45-minute workshop. They also get a book each week that goes with the skill to take home to keep and use with their child. Fun interactive activities, practical tips, and resources are shared during each session. At the end of the six-week session, each family will have received six books, letter magnets, a book bag, other materials and great information to help prepare their children for school.

The project was very successful during the pilot year and we are continuing to fund the materials and training for librarians. A summary of the evaluation from the pilot project can be found at [1]. We also created a chart that shows the results from the 2008-2009 First Book and Every Child Ready to Read (ECRTR) parent surveys at [[2]]. We have incorporated ECRTR info in our statewide First Book program and other outreach efforts too so the chart shows the difference between the two programs. Both were very effective at changing parent behavior. If you’re really into evaluation, feel free to take a look at the lengthy Evaluation of Read to Me programs, 2009 Final Report by Dr. Roger Stewart, Ed.D., August, 2009 and Interim Report, January, 2009 located on our resource page, [[3]].

If you have any questions about the Idaho ECRTR family workshops, including the scripts, resources, or evaluation, please contact Stephanie Bailey-White, project coordinator at the Idaho Commission for Libraries, or visit [[4]].

vinobocale
Doing the Every Child Ready to Read workshops made us more visible in the county's early childhood community. Because the workshops were research based, the public library became more respected in this community as well.
--Sghoting 09:22, 8 November 2006 (CST)

We are starting a ECRR for parents and children in our library this fall. We experimented with a format over the spring and summer and would like suggestions on how to present the information to parents while keeping the children engaged.
At this point we are planning on presenting the material to the parents in a storytime format with a short break out session on each skill afterwards. Our time frame is one and a half hours and our age groups is 3-5.